A new multimedia space to tell the story of Villa Gregoriana and its environment with the narrating voice of actor Lino Guanciale: an opportunity to discover the epic story of a river, the Aniene, and a city, Tivoli, that make this place unique and special in the past, present and future.

Un ambiente per l’Ambiente (An environment for the Environment), a new permanent multimedia space that enriches and renews the current offer of visits, opens at Villa Gregoriana in Tivoli. The exhibition is an immersive video installation curated by FAI and entrusted to the voice of actor Lino Guanciale. An in-depth study and an original key to interpretation that retraces the history of Villa Gregoriana in all its stages, but also extends to its context, the Environment, to show the inseparable bond between History and Nature, and here in particular between Villa Gregoriana and the Aniene.

An opportunity to discover the epic story of a river and a city, Tivoli, between natural disasters and curious world records, between the myth of antiquity and the genius of progress, between the beauty of the landscape and the value of the environment, which make this place unique and special in the past, in the present and for the future. 

THE STORY OF A RIVER
The story of Villa Gregoriana is, in fact, the story of a river, the Aniene, on which Tivoli and the Villa itself were born, but which today has almost disappeared from view, and with it its value, not only in history but above all for the environment. The Villa Gregoriana is not only a splendid romantic park dotted with ruins and monumental trees and crisscrossed by picturesque waterfalls, rescued from decay and neglect and, with hard work and determination, reopened to the public by the FAI in 2005. Behind this magnificent artifice, which dates back only to 1835 and seems entirely natural, there is a glorious story to be told: an all-too-human epic, made up of daring constructions and dramatic destructions, of artistic visions and ingenious inventions, and of exceptional records that Tivoli can boast in the world, from when it was an obligatory stop on the European Grand Tour, on a par with Rome and Venice, portrayed in hundreds of works by the greatest artists, from Caspar van Wittel to William Turner, to when, as the first city in Italy, in 1886 it was illuminated with alternating current produced by hydroelectric power.

The video story intends to restore this place to its environmental identity, putting the river back at centre stage, the all too often forgotten protagonist of our civilisation, a vital but not inexhaustible resource, exploited to excess in recent times and now threatened by the environmental crisis.

THE VALUE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Spreading knowledge about the value of the Environment starting from its properties*, linking places with their histories and context, the past with the present and future, Nature with Man and his responsibilities: this, too, for FAI, is a way of being an environmentalist.

The environment, after all, is culture for the FAI, which increasingly recounts it in its properties, as in this video story: starting with the activities it carries out to preserve it, to repair the damage caused by the environmental crisis, from which the Villa Gregoriana – fragile and delicate by nature* (two landslides in 2021 and 2022) – particularly suffers, but above all to contain the damage, thanks to ordinary and planned maintenance, which is increasingly proving to be strategic for the FAI, because it is the most effective tool for adapting to climate change*.

‘AN ENVIRONMENT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT’
The video story is the third dedicated by FAI to the Environment after those set up with the same slant at Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan and at Villa dei Vescovi in Luvigliano di Torreglia (PD), and it joins all those that the Foundation has already set up in its other properties, having by now identified “narrative spaces” such as this one as a very effective tool for cultural enhancement. Thus also at Villa Gregoriana, and in particular in the former school building redesigned by Gae Aulenti, at the end of the visit, the public will be able to find a space for pause and reflection where they can listen to and learn about the past, present and future of this environment, and see what they have not seen while walking around Villa Gregoriana.

THE INAUGURATION
The space was inaugurated on November 21st, 2024 in the presence of Ilaria Borletti Buitoni, FAI Vice-President; Giorgio Strafonda, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Tivoli; Daniela Bruno, FAI Deputy Director General for Cultural Affairs; and Michele Pontecorvo Ricciardi, Vice-President Ferrarelle Società Benefit.

*articles in Italian